Management Team

Management Team

Isa Odidi, Ph.D., MBA

Chairman, CEO, Co-Chief Scientific Officer (CSO)

In 1998, Dr. Isa Odidi co-founded Intellipharmaceutics Inc., the predecessor of publicly-traded Intellipharmaceutics International Inc. From 1995 to 1998, Dr. Odidi held positions, first as Director, then as Vice President of Research of Drug Development and New Technologies, at Biovail Corporation International, (now Valeant Pharmaceutical International, Inc.), a drug delivery company.

Prior to 1995, Dr. Odidi held several senior positions in academia and in the pharmaceutical and health care industries. His work has been cited in textbooks and he has published over a hundred scientific and medical papers, articles and textbooks.

Dr. Odidi currently holds a Chair as Professor of Pharmaceutical Technology at the Toronto Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology in Canada and is an Adjunct Professor at the Institute for Molecular Medicine in California.

Dr. Odidi holds a B.Sc. Pharmacy from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria, an M.Sc. Pharmaceutical Technology, Ph.D. Pharmaceutics from the University of London, and his MBA from Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. He is also a graduate of the Western Executive Program, Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Odidi was recently awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree (Honoris causa) from the University of Benin, Nigeria.

Amina Odidi, Ph.D.

President, COO, Co-Chief Scientific Officer (CSO)

In 1998, Dr. Amina Odidi co-founded Intellipharmaceutics Inc., the predecessor of publicly-traded Intellipharmaceutics International Inc. Dr. Odidi has been President, COO, and Co-Chief Scientist since 1998. She has extensive experience developing and applying proprietary technologies to the development of controlled-release drug products for third-party pharmaceutical companies. She has invented or co-invented various proprietary controlled delivery devices for the delivery of pharmaceutical, nutriceutical, biological, agricultural and chemical agents. In the past she has worked for the pharmaceutical and health care industry. Dr. Odidi has co-authored eight articles, papers and textbooks.

Dr. Odidi holds a B.Sc. in Pharmacy, an M.S. in Biopharmaceutics, and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of London.

Andrew Patient, B.Actg, CPA, CA

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Patient has more than 20 years' experience with both Nasdaq- and TSX-listed companies, and has deep expertise in all facets of business, including operations, trade, finance, regulatory and business development, both nationally and internationally. In December 2011, Mr. Patient became CFO at Merus Labs International Inc., a Nasdaq and TSX dual-listed specialty pharmaceutical company that owns, markets and distributes prescription medications. During a five-year period, Mr. Patient helped grow Merus from a one-drug domestic platform to a 12-drug, 36 country international platform. At Merus, Mr. Patient oversaw several significant acquisitions, and implemented a low-cost operating model with a light infrastructure footprint. Mr. Patient was responsible for all accounting, finance and treasury functions, including external regulatory reporting, investor relations, and negotiating and executing key agreements for distribution and sales of products. Mr. Patient has been a Chartered Accountant (C.A.) since 1995.

Michael Campbell, B.A. (Honours), LL.B.

General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Mr. Campbell joined Intellipharmaceutics in July 2017. A solution-oriented executive and legal advisor, Mr. Campbell's specialties include corporate finance, M&A, commercial operations, corporate development and business strategy. Since 2007, Mr. Campbell has been involved in the management of early stage companies at Griffis Capital, an incubator of businesses in the natural resources, information technology and healthcare industries. Prior to joining Griffis Capital, Mr. Campbell was a partner at McMillan LLP, a leading Canadian law firm. He has also served as General Counsel at Canada Cartage System, Canada's largest private dedicated fleet transportation and logistics provider. Mr. Campbell holds a B.A. (Honours) from McGill University (Montreal, Quebec) and a law degree from Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario).

Patrick N. Yat, Ph.D.

Vice President, Chemistry & Analytical Services

Patrick Yat has been has been Vice President at Intellipharmaceutics since 2005 and has been involved in the pharmaceutical or pharmaceutical-related industry since 1992 when he worked at Health Canada as Visiting Scientist. Previously, Dr. Yat worked at Patheon Inc., where he was instrumental in the successful take off of its pre-formulation unit. He also served with Biovail Corporation where he was involved in methods development and validation of the company's pipeline products as well as heading the pre-formulation activity for the company. Dr. Yat currently sits as an expert committee member of the USP on methods development and is on the advisory board of the Toronto Institute of Pharmaceutical Technology on QC program.

Dr. Yat holds a Ph.D. from the University of Salford, U.K. His Ph.D. research on Opioid analgesics was supported by industry.

Christian Akyempon, B.Sc. (Honors), M.Sc., MBA

Vice President, Commercial Operations

Christian Akyempon is currently the Vice President, Commercial Operations, at Intellipharmaceutics Corp. In this role, Mr. Akyempon oversees the strategic functions of Marketing, Sales and Business Development. Prior to assuming this role, he worked as the VP, Business Development for Global Pharma Partners with responsibilities for the Canadian market. Before then, he was the Director of Business Development and Government Affairs at Taro Canada until May 2013. His extensive career with both generic and brand pharmaceutical firms include several managerial roles in Business Development, Marketing and Sales at Teva Canada, ratiopharm, GlaxoSmithKline and Sterling Winthrop. At Teva, he played a pivotal role in the integration of ratiopharm into Teva Canada. Over a seven-year period, Mr. Akyempon also provided strategic business solutions and market audits to pharma firms specializing in Diagnostic Imaging in the hospital environment through Medimark Consultants.

Christian holds an MBA from the University of Ottawa, a M.Sc. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of British Columbia, and an Honors B.Sc. from the University of Waterloo.